Despite falling to the Crusaders in Friday night’s semi-final clash, former All Black Justin Marshall believes Chiefs midfielder Quinn Tupaea is a shoo-in for national selection.
The 36-strong squad is set to be named on Monday at noon by head coach Ian Foster ahead of July’s Steinlager Series against Ireland.
Anticipation of who will represent the fern has plagued the rugby community in recent months, where midfield selection has been a huge point of interest.
While plenty of players could be in contention for the All Blacks 12 jersey, Marshall believes the semi-final battle between Tupaea and Crusader David Havili was a key match-up just days before selection and that Tupaea came out on top.
“I certainly thought, when I was looking at this from an All Blacks selectors perspective, there’s a possibility that they’re looking at two players in one position playing for one spot in their All Blacks team,” Marshall said on SENZ’s Super Rugby Fan Show.
“It’ll be very interesting to see what their thought process is.
“You’ve got one player who’s playing incredibly good rugby at the moment in Quinn Tupaea, you can’t fault the way that his game has just sort of grown substantially in the second part of Super Rugby.
“He’s just the form 12 in the country probably at the moment. He certainly is showing all attributes of a very good 12 which is distribution, his defence is good, he breaks tackles, post and pre-contact he’s very good, he makes good decisions and he works hard.
“He is in tip-top form at the moment.”
While Marshall feels that Tupaea will have the edge come selection, he admits Havili brings a different style to the field which may work in his favour on Monday afternoon.
“David Havili as well … just a different type of player, a more silky type of player with great distribution skills,” Marshall continued.
“This versatility … the ability for him to play at 10 right out to 15 gives him a slight advantage over Quinn Tupaea although they did play Tupaea on the wing with the Chiefs a few times this year, which is something the All Blacks selectors would’ve been really pleased to see.
“His ability now to play (from) 12 to wing will go a long way for him.
“Taking my Crusaders cap off, I think Quinn Tupaea was the better player (on Friday night). I certainly thought that he added good punch, he was dangerous, and he had more … for whatever reason … involvements in the game.
“He was more noticeable, so yeah he didn’t do his chances any harm by pitting himself against a guy that he’s probably going in direct competition with the All Blacks for.”
The All Blacks will name their 36-man squad at 12pm on Monday live through their Facebook and YouTube platforms.